Tuesday, January 31, 2012

“The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution” (Wilson 167).

Wilson argues that mankind is tethered by their genetics in that no matter how culturally advanced, we are like all other animals on earth driven by the motivations of genetics: surviving and passing on our genes. In Lilith’s Brood, Butler presents a post-apocalyptic scenario with an alien species not confined by these aspects of evolution. The reproduction of the Oankali is based on the presence of a third sexless member in addition to male and female called an ooloi. This entity has the ability to combine the genetic material for reproduction, select for different traits, and even combine with other species. This form of reproduction is based solely on choice and making decisions for later generations. (Perhaps the implications of deciding what is best for posterity will probably be seen with further readings into Lilith’s Brood.) While human reproduction is based on random events genetically with random combinations of genes from reproductive cells. The choice in human reproduction is based solely in mate selection. Lilith is the first human who will mother a child created for her through the methods of reproduction used by the Oankali. Because of this, her and her offspring will be going against what evolution which not only had shaped her life but had also shaped her species and every species that has ever existed on earth. Lilith still has the hotwiring given to her by evolution but yet she doesn’t need to be driven by these motivations. As well as having another person to care for and add to the personal relationship. This conflict is very creates a strange love triangle necessary for reproduction which goes against and previous system in history. It can be argued that Lilith even falls more in love with her oolioo that with her human companion and that this shift indicates a transcendence from the laws of evolution to the new alien ways of reproduction.

As Wilson claims we are bound by our genetics, such human characteristics of love can be simplified as a means for reproduction involving a purely physical as well as a compansionate aspect.Sexual attraction is one motivator in mate selection and this is traditionally been thought to been based off of physical attractiveness and whether a person looks sickly or not, will be able to bear children, and some research even shows that it is based off of scent - - directly reflecting genetics. Because the Oankali don’t need to rely on guessing if a person would be a good genetic match from attractiveness, there doesn’t need to be an element of physicality to sexual reproduction. Lilith’s utter repulsion by the appearance of the aliens repulsed her so much that she “deliberately dug her nails into her palm until they all but broke the skin […] to distract her (Butler 15) and it took her months to get used to their appearances.After she was used to the appearance of the Oankali and the oolioo and awakened other humans perhaps a shift in choosing a mate based on physical attraction was apparent. Liltih surprised her captors when she did not chose a large strong attractive mate but instead chose a shorter older man. While their relationship proceeded in a somewhat traditional fashion, the addition of the oolioo complicated the physical aspect of the relationship and this can perhaps be explain by Wilson as being because the ability to reproduce with just a man and a woman was lost. After losing the ability to conceive without the the oolio, Lilith and Joseph, although still caring for each other are repulsed by the idea of the other as sexual beings without the ooloi. When Lilth tries to hold Joseph’s hand they force themselves to remain holding hands but “shudder with revulsion”(Butler 220). Yet on the other hand earlier that day she was missing Nikanj and that fact that it wouldn’t be there at night for “gentle multiple touches of sensory tentacles and sensory hands”(Butler 213). This explicitly sexual language is a stark contrast to not only the way she felt initially about the alien species but also to how she currently feels about her human mate Joseph and this switch can be explained by change in the process of reproduction.

Another element of attraction, companionship or love, is women want men who will stick around through their pregnancy and through the life of the child and provide for them and men want women to be good mothers to their offspring. It is this mutual caring and ability to get along that bring Joseph and Lilith together initially. Interestingly, this aspect of the importance of caring for offspring and thus forming a loving unit is as essential for reproduction in humans as it is for the Oankali population. Although they can control their traits, they still have to rear their children and take great care. Not only that but they must also care for the oolioo. Lilith took on this role with Nikanj when she first met it and from then on her relationship with it was one that involved much more mutual dependency and caring than her relationship with Joseph. At the end of the battle between the humans and the oolioo, Lilith actually “strip[s] naked on the battlefield to lie down with the enemy”(Butler 232) and lies with Nikanj until he is able to use her body to heal himself. This type of compassionate intimacy does not in any way exist in human society other than perhaps when a person donates a kidney. In this way Lilith’s relation with her oolioo deepens as they literally become one for a time.Again, a Wilsonian explanation for this is that the compassion comes from the fact that the two can produce offspring together and need to care for one another to effectively raise and pass on the genes (however altered).

In summary, Lilith is the first being in history to go beyond to constraints of traditional evolution by being able to reproduce with a new species that do not rely on random events.As a result, the love and feeling of closeness changes from being towards her own species to a being that she can reproduce with. It also changes from being more based on physical appearance and initially attracting to being based on mutual compassion.

Lilith’s Brood seems to me a direct response to an idea posed on page 51 of Wilson’s Human Nature, “But even worse, imagine our predicament if we coexisted with a mentally superior human species, say Homo superbus, who regarded us, the minor sibling species Homo sapiens, as the moral problem.” This idea of course is not a totally new, even Dr. Seuss has suggested how life would be different if humans were the animals of the planet, but the combination of Wilson’s ideas and his statements immediately previously on our obligation to a mentally inferior brings me to this passage as a question to which her book responds.

Of course in Butler’s version, we are not cousins; we do not share a genetic or personal history with our alien superiors.For good or ill they have removed what history they can to start the human or what was human civilization anew. “’You'll begin again. We'll put you in areas that are free of radioactivity and history. You will become something other than you were.’ ‘And you think destroying what was left of our cultures will make us better?’‘No. Only different.’” (Butler, 34)They want us to hold onto nothing and become something new and yet they keep their memories of every merger genetically locked so they can never forget.As humans we no longer know why each gene we have nature decided made us more likely to survive and this is one of the things Wilson seeks for us to learn.The Oankali have this information genetically encoded.Is it this understanding of themselves which Wilson seeks that makes them such a peaceful if manipulative species?Is Butler suggesting we to could gain this harmony and cultural control if we knew our roots?The question for me then is why deny humans this information.Would our genetic history be too much for us to handle or is it merely the cultural history we normally see as civilized they want us to forget?

The Oankali seem to have a similar belief system to that of Wilson.They have a natural ability to reengineer the basic foundations of life, our genes, and feel compelled to do so with themselves and others to spread and change their genes.Although Wilson lacks the ability to change our genes himself, this is also the goal he believes we should explore and improve ourselves through.He, like the Oankali, delve into the possibility of guiding and engineering the evolution of another species as the Oankali do to us,“ Should we divide the world, guide their mental evolution to the human level...?”(Wilson, p.51) Wilson’s writing suggests to me that he would like to be the Oankali of our species understanding us, manipulating our genes and perhaps feels compelled to do so for us to make a better world.If he believed it was best I do not doubt he too would wish to improve are DNA with the DNA of other species as the Oankali do as well; however, what is different from him and the Oankali is that he could not make that choice for all of us.

Giving Wilson’s beliefs to the Oankali simultaneously makes the ideas of genetic modification and design more appealing and much more perverse. The Oankali make genetic engineering appealing because the beings are our saviors and their way of life if strange seems harmonious. While not our ways, their ways seem to peaceful and virtuous; they do not eat meat, and while they argue we do not see them coming to blows. On the other hand their manipulation of the genes makes what they do to humans inhuman.It was not decided on by humans and thus humans cannot use it to define our own evolution.It was done to us without choice.Our future has been taken away from us. Like the australopitecine of Wilson’s example (Wilson, 51) we are but the lower species for a higher to manipulate and care for.

I then see most of Butler’s work as a hashing out of On Human Nature with the Oankali taking the place of Wilson or the scientist, and the humans, Lilith and those she awakens are humanity responding to what Wilson has shown us. “’We pair off!’ Curt bellowed, drowning her out. ‘One man, one woman, Nobody has the right to hold you. It just causes trouble.’” (Butler, 176) This is how we tend to think we are supposed to be, paired.But we would like it to be by choice. Marriage is one of the “characteristics that have been recorded in every culture known to history and ethnography” (Wilson, 21) And females as the weaker sex, become home bound with the creation of agriculture and then something to be traded or taken.In this world of 43 humans everyone has been raised in civilization and yet we still revert to this need for a mate and, aggression which goes along with Wilson’s “crowding in the environment” is present and we revert to cave men.

The Oankali can help us to succeed, help us overcome what we are at our basic core, but at what cost? This is what we ask of the future; would cleaning our genes make us less human? Would the changing of expression or adding in of other species features diminish our humanity? Lilith despite the benefits for her child believes that humanity is what matters not the benefits but could we really turn down the possibility to grow limbs? To stop cancer and disease in our children? By using another species Butler is able to dramatize Wilsons dream into something we can either fear or dream of.

In Lilith’s Brood, the Oankali make several critiques about the
values and actions of the human race.
One of the most fundamental evaluations made by the Oankali concerns the
hierarchical nature of human beings. “You
are hierarchical. That’s the older and
more entrenched characteristic. We saw it in your closest animal relatives and
in your most distant ones. It’s a terrestrial characteristic. When human
intelligence served it instead of guiding it, when human intelligence did not
even acknowledge it as a problem, but took pride in it or did not notice it at
all…that was like ignoring cancer. I think your people did not realize what a
dangerous thing they were doing” (Butler, 39).

The Oankali believe the hierarchical
nature of humans is one of the characteristics that brought humans to nearly destroy
themselves. The alternative presented to
this characteristic is a society that is non-hierarchical and non-violent. The Oankali assert that this alternative is
far superior to what the humans practiced on Earth long ago. They believe that the new race of beings that
will be created, will be a great improvement over the previous inhabitants of
Earth because these inhabitants will be more like the Oankali in nature.

The theme of hierarchy is played
with in several instances throughout Lilith’s
Brood. One of these instances that I find most fascinating is when Lilith
and Nikanj are placed together. Instead
of only one of them having the power to teach the other, they both possess this
power. Lilith is dependent on Nikanj to
learn about the Oankali, just as it is dependent on Lilith to learn the English
language. This way of learning seems to
benefit both beings. This is perhaps an
example of the Oankali rejecting the hierarchical tendencies of humans; there
is not the classic teacher-student relationship, both are students of each other.

Another instance in which hierarchy
comes into play is when Lilith meets Paul Titus. Lilith was very excited to meet Paul because
she had not interacted with a human in such a long time. However, Paul had more than just a meeting in
mind; he desperately wanted to have sex with Lilith. After Lilith refused to accept his advances,
Paul attempted to rape her but only ended up beating her. I believe this interaction between Lilith and
Paul supports the Oankali’s statement about human hierarchical tendencies being
a fundamental flaw. Paul assumed a type
of hierarchical power over Lilith, similar to many male-female relationships on
Earth in the past. Paul acted in a
selfish manner, placing his urges to have sex over Lilith’s feelings. I believe that the Oankali may have viewed
this interaction as a small-scale example that supported their beliefs; the human
characteristic of hierarchy greatly influenced the death of much of the human
race.

When Lilith begins training the
Awakened humans, the Oankali change many of her characteristics. She acquires many of their special abilities
and becomes much stronger than a normal human.
These characteristics ensure that she is in charge of the Awakened. They see her as different and as someone who
is attempting to lead them. This makes
her stand out like a sore thumb to all of the Awakened; it also makes her a
target, as some begin to believe that she is not human or that she sides with
the aliens. Changes are also made to
Lilith’s close friend Joseph, leading some to target him as well. Ultimately, the
Awakened humans turn against Lilith and attempt to escape. Joseph is killed
during this process. I was troubled by
this part of the story because the Oankali seemed to create the hierarchy that
they so despised. By making Lilith and
Joseph similar them, the Oankali gave them a sort of power over all of the
Awakened. Eventually a power struggle
erupted between the Awakened and Lilith, destroying any hope of the Oankali’s
plan succeeding. On the other hand,
perhaps it did succeed. Is it possible
that the Oankali intentionally created this power struggle to demonstrate to
Lilith that the hierarchical nature of humans does indeed need to be eliminated
for a successful return to Earth?

In closing, I believe that the
Oankali might be on to something when they say that the hierarchical nature of
humans is a fatal flaw. The most violent
wars in our history have come about as power struggles between two or more
parties. If humans were non-hierarchical,
it is likely that some of these wars may have never occurred. It is not hard to imagine a future war that
is capable of destroying the Earth; it would be very easy to do with all of our
nuclear capabilities. Do I believe that
the only way to avoid our destruction is to genetically alter us? No, I believe
that the Oankali take it too far. In
addition, we do not even have the capability to do such a thing at this present
time. We should aspire to be like the
Oankali in that they are non-violent, but that does not mean we have to change
our genetics to do so. If we just look
at the critiques presented by the Oankali, I think we may find a solution to our
flawed hierarchical nature. It is
mentioned that the humans did not use their intelligence to guide their
hierarchical nature; they used their intelligence to serve it. This caused their destruction in Lilith’s Brood. If we can find ways to use use our
intelligence to guide this characteristic, I believe that we can avoid the fate
humans suffered in Lilith’s Brood.

The
Oankali take an aggressive tack in revising the human race in “Lilith’s Brood”,
one with a pace and magnitude so great that it often frightens and even angers
their subjects. Reactions to their plans range from the murderous, in
characters such as Curt, to the frightful, in the instance of Cele. As Nikanj tells Joseph, “Different is threatening to most species…different
is dangerous It might kill you. That was true to your animal ancestors, and
your nearest animal relatives. And it’s for you” (186). To be fair, there is a
relatively small group of wary support for the Oankali in Lilith, and to an
extent Joseph, but by and large it seems as though the humans aboard the
extraterrestrials’ ship are far from ready to have so much of the foundations
of their former lives taken away from them. Parting with the once-dominant paradigm of human biology and
culture seems as though it will be quite difficult for much of the humans, but
in order to reunite with their beloved homeland, they must submit to the metamorphosis
the Oankali have in mind

One
of the primary concerns of Lilith and those Awakened by her is the nature of
any potential offspring that would occur on the new Earth, including that of
strictly humans and that of intermingling between humans and the Oankali. The
fact that the Oankali wish to permanently imprint themselves on Earth and on
what remains of humanity is an uneasy prospect for many of the humans, but one
that they must accept and even embrace if they expect to set foot on their home
planet again. This conflict first fully materializes itself near the end of the
first book, when Nikanj reveals to Lilith that he has impregnated her with
material from the now deceased Joseph. Although she finds some comfort in the
fact that her offspring will be at least partially related to a person whose
company she valued so much, the fact that it will be, in her words, “a
thing-not human” (246) obviously upsets her.As the most accommodating of the humans to the Oankali, a “Judas
goat” as she says, it is her reluctant designation to also be the forerunner of
the hybrid race that will eventually inhabit the new Earth.

The
Oankali certainly are one of the most interesting race creations I have ever
experienced in science fiction writing. The late 1980’s were a time when
scientific, particularly genetic, study began to grow almost exponentially.
Butler, like many other science fiction authors, is imagining a world where
genetics and people can be manipulated in a way to make them better. This is a
very similar idea to the one that Wilson proposes. It all comes down to the
idea that humans are creatures that have developed due to genetic changes, and
we would need to alter those genetics in order to create a more perfect version
of ourselves. Butler uses the genre of science fiction to imagine a creature
that can be that force of genetic change for us to imagine what it might be
like.

The
whole novel deals with these issues of change. The one part that I found to be
particularly interesting was the very end of the novel. Ever since the idea of
genetic engineering was formed, it has been a constant debate as to the ethics
that are involved in it. Birth is the most natural thing that many people would
think of, but it is not a flawless system. Humans have evolved over billions of
years, but as Wilson points out, “The first dilemma is the rapid dissolution of
transcendental goals … Those goals, the true moral equivalents of war, have
faded” (Wilson 4). This statement and the passage above it illustrate Wilson’s
idea that the human race should not accept complacency, and we should still be
trying to advance forward. By advancement, I mean genetic altering that would
give the changed person a better chance at success and survival. Success can be
defined different, but for these purposes, I’ll just define it as Nikanj
defines it. He knows that “Our children will be better than either of us … We
will moderate your hierarchical problems and you will lessen our physical
limitations. Our children won’t destroy themselves in a war, and if they need
to regrow a limb or to change themselves in some other way they’ll be able to
do it. And there will be other benefits” (Butler 247-248). Nikanj impregnates
Lilith with a baby that she had no chosen to have. Although the child would be
superior, as Nikanj points out, she is still in the traditional human way of
thinking that this difference is just too much to handle. The technology to at
least slightly change human genes and create a functional genome is not very
far away from us now, and people are still not prepared to accept this idea.
Butler essentially inverts the idea of human choice in the matter. This ending
also seems to have some biblical implications to me, alluding to the Immaculate
Conception obviously, but religion is a separate topic here. Lilith is very
distraught here obviously, and she cannot accept the alien’s actions. She even
goes as far as to say, “It will be a thing. A monster” (247). It contains the
DNA of both her and Joseph, but she still considers it completely unnatural
because the alien added other features to make it more perfect. Lilith’s usage
of the word “monster” brings obvious parallels to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster and
the monster that is gestating in Lilith’s womb both share similarities. They
are both created out of the ambition that they will be the perfect creation,
they are a combination of pieces from different sources, and they are both
being rejected by their creator. This idea of rejection from the creator brings
everything back to the basic human fear of genetic change. Both of the
creators, Victor and Lilith, know that the thing they are creating will be
superior to other beings, but they cannot accept it as their own conception.

I
believe that Butler uses a rape metaphor as a way to force this genetically
advanced child on Lilith. Although she rejects it, the alien knows that it will
be an amazing child capable of almost anything. I’m not yet aware of what
happens to the child after it is born, but I feel that this changed child might
remove some of her natural maternal instincts towards it. If this is the case,
it would just further the analogy that an unnatural child would not truly be
the mother’s at all. The alternative to conventional thinking is presented by
depicting generational improvement as a forced procedure rather than a matter
of choice, and it’s a very radical idea for Butler to give these characters
that ability.

“They’ve had two hundred and
fifty years to fool around with us,” she said.“Maybe we can’t stop them, but we don’t have to help them.”

“The hell with them.”He tried to unfasten her jacket.

“No!” she shouted, deliberately
startling him.“Animals get treated like
this.Put a stallion and mare together
until they mate, then send them back to their owners. What do they care?They’re just animals!” (Butler 95)

For the Oankali sex/breeding
amongst one another appears to be a very structured system.Emotions as humans understand do not seem to
factor into the decision of who to pair with.In the “ideal” human situation we are supposed to meet someone that
excites us, we fall in love and have many little babies and a happy life.In actuality real relationships are often
difficult if not disastrous affairs.Many people will go through multiple partners before finding their
“perfect” mate, ending up alone or settling.The Oankali construct relationships amongst each other and humanity with
a clinical precision.

Presuming the first encounter
with Lilith and Paul Titus marks the Oankali’s first attempt to pair the
species together ends in total disaster.Octavia Butler uses this encounter to establish the inherent violence in
human nature to contrast with the rather civil and “matter of fact” society of
the Oankali.Paul, having elected to
live with the Oankali, has been told that his genetic information has been used
to “create over seventy children” and forces himself upon Lilith to experience
something he has been denied.In essence
this is how the Oankali view human relations at first, simply as animals that
need to be put together to successfully breed, that is simplified human
breeding.

Later in the novel when Lilith
begins to awaken the other humans she believes that she herself is making the
decision on who to bring out amongst a pool of acceptable candidates.In fact the pool was not only chosen by the
Oankali but chosen purposefully to have the greatest chance for pairing amongst
the humans.For the Oankali this
presents the most logical choices, having studied each human intensively, they
have been able to determine not only acceptable candidates to begin repopulating
Earth but who will pair and mate with whom.Human relations are messy affairs, we have a number of clichés involving
pairing off or finding love, marry someone like your mother/father, and
opposites attract, marry someone uglier than you or just marry someone ugly.Hundreds of little phrases designed to
simplify the complicated process of finding a compatible mate amongst a
relatively speaking incredibly small sampling of the population on the off
chance you will fall in love and mate.While
this whole process has its own mysticism attached to it that make it all seem
worth it, any rational judgment of the subject is often clouded by our
constructed ideals of how relationships are supposed to be.

For the Oankali there is no
confusion on who they should be mating with, no uncertainty on whether the
partners are correct for one another, the connections are made and that is
that.They not only function but thrive
within this structure.Applying this
same logic to humanity the Oankali has removed any chance for humans to make
inefficient pairings, to allow emotion to override logic in their choice.This human engineering may appear problematic
at first removing the human component of chance but in the end this would serve
to make a stronger human.The Oankali
have taken species engineering to the extreme not only can they cure disease
they can perfect genetic code, improve upon it and collect the genetic
knowledge of other species to better themselves.That is how one creates an ideal species
removing emotion from the process of creation, removal of the useless parts and
expressing the successful parts.This
may change what it means to be human but only what it means to be human as
current humans understand themselves.Like our ancestors that came before something new must come along to
replace the old.

It is clear that Octavia E. Butler
is trying to make several claims about humanity and human nature with her novel
Lilith’s Brood. It is also clear that
Butler is attempting to respond to the work of Edward O. Wilson and his novel
On Human Nature with several of her passages. One of the major claims in
Wilson’s novel that Butler addresses is our need to be aggressive and how that
need leads to us asserting our dominance on others. Butler uses her novel to
agree with and connect to these claims but also to further the idea to say that
this need for dominance becomes a need for sovereignty. She begins to claim
that humans need to have a social hierarchy and that that need is (and was in
her novel) our downfall. Butler uses her novel and a close reading of Wilson to
claim that it is human nature to be hierarchal but also that that trait will
cause us to destroy ourselves.

In a previous chapter Edward O.
Wilson asserts that humans have an innate tendency towards aggression. However
he uses his chapter on Sex to show that one gender has historically been more
aggressive than the other, and has also evolved into a position of social and
physical dominance. Wilson presents us with the fact that “Males are
characteristically aggressive,” (125 Wilson) and that this aggression coupled
with the fact that we are typically larger, and faster makes it easy for us to
place ourselves in a more dominating role of women. “The physical and
temperamental differences between men and women have been amplified by culture
into universal male dominance” (128 Wilson). Wilson lays these ideas out very
clearly in this chapter and it can be seen that his ideas about the evolution
of not only man, but also male aggression are echoed in Butler’s novel.

Up to the point in the novel where
Lilith is introduced to Paul Titus she is longing to meet another human being.
She wants to come in contact with something familiar and welcoming. Initially
Titus is all of that. He was amiable, pleasant and even probably of the same or
a similar race as Lilith. He was and English speaking American, basically
everything she wanted to see in another human being. But one of the things that
she failed to see or realize was that the man she was going to see was just
that, a man, a human with distinct qualities that adhere to the principles of
human nature laid out by Wilson.

Early in their encounter we begin
to see Paul Titus establish his dominance over Lilith. “It’s funny… [y]ou
started out years older than me, but I’ve been Awake for so long… I guess I’m
older than you now” (89 Butler). Here Titus isn’t simply trying to state a fact
that he’s older, he is trying to alert Lilith to the fact that he is superior
to her, that he is wiser, that he has been around the Oankali for longer and
that he knows what is best for the both of them. He then goes on to show how he
can open the doors like the Oankali can, again showing how superior he is to
his female counterpart. Here Butler is beginning to show us how her characters
adhere to the defined qualities of Human nature as presented by Wilson. But not
only does she continue to do so as the encounter between Lilith and Paul Titus
goes on, she also shows us how self-damaging these qualities are.

Butler begins to escalate the
situation by showing Paul Titus’s genetic predisposition to physical violence.
Titus begin to stand over Lilith, showing his physical superiority, then he
attacks her, attempting to take of her jacket and have his way with her. We
being now to see Wilson’s assertions truly illustrated in Paul Titus’ actions,
he becomes aggressive, dominant and asserts this dominance on a supposedly
inferior female. We become aware here that Butler is trying to echo Wilson’s
sentiments about human nature but not only that, we see her attempting to take
the idea one step further.

With Paul Titus’ last assault
Butler shows that we as humans strive not just to assert dominance but
sovereignty, “They said that I could do it with you. They said you could stay
here if you wanted to. And you had to go and mess it up” (96 Butler). Obviously
Lilith did not ruin the chance that she and Paul had for a relationship, he
did. At this point it can be seen that Titus wanted to show Lilith her place in
the hierarchy of their relationship. That he was a male and he was going to
keep her, a female, around for sex. And not only that but she could be given to
him for that purpose without her consent. By trying to assert this, Titus ruins
any chance he had of having sex with Lilith, the one thing that he wanted to
do. With this Butler is trying to claim that yes, humans are naturally,
aggressive and dominating, but that dominance can also lead to a need to rule
over someone or something and that that need for sovereignty is our downfall.

Not just with Lilith’s encounter
with Paul Titus, but even with the destruction of the whole earth and with the
later interactions with the other Awaken humans Butler attempts to show us that
our need to be hierarchal is our biggest downfall. She shows us, with all of these
examples that she agrees with Wilson in the sense that humans (mostly males)
have the tendency to be aggressive and dominating, but she takes this a step
further and claims that this also leads them to be hierarchal, and that this
need for hierarchy is a self damaging trait. With Wilson in mind we should read
Butler as stating that she agrees with Wilson in his claims about aggression
and sex but also asserting that that trait will lead to self destruction.
Butler is trying to tell us that our humanity, or at least that aspect of it,
will lead to our self-imposed demise and that if we cannot transcend a need for
sovereignty that we are doomed.

The idea of freedom; of having a right to choose and
decide for yourself who you want to become and where you want to go, has been
the catalyst for many wars and revolutions. The idea that one has the right to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is an ideal that nearly every
country aspires for. This is a freedom
that not only allows us control over our own lives, but also, over our own
bodies. However, one can be fairly
certain that every person, no matter their age or gender, has moments in their
life when their innate desires seem to distract or torment them from making the
right choices. But, if we are granted the
ability to choose to do whatever we will to our bodies, even if this means
harming ourselves or our depriving ourselves of something we most desperately
want. Most would say that this is an
easy price to pay. We may not always
make the best decisions, but the idea that we are the only ones permitted to
make them, is a right that most would fight for. However,
the Oankali don’t share the same philosophy. Although they give human’s the
idea that they still have control over their lives, the Oankali intervene in nearly every decision they make,
justifying their actions by asserting that they know what we want better than
we know ourselves. This seems to
directly contrast with our ideals of freedom and liberty, but, is a society
that is governed by all knowing beings who make the “right” decisions for us,
perhaps the better alternative than us running amok with flawed judgement?

After
Lilith and Joseph are both simultaneously stimulated and pleasured by Nikanj,
Joseph is mortified and confused. When
confronted with the situation again, Nikanj claims that this time, Joseph is
allowed to choose whether or not he wishes to participate again. ““No!”
He said sharply. “Not again!””
However, despite Joseph’s refusal, Nikanj continues to virtually seduce Joseph,
stating, “Your body said one thing. Your
words said another.” Joseph continues to
resist the Ooloi, protesting, demanding that the monster let go of him. However, the alien simply replies, “Be
grateful, Joe. I’m not going to let go
of you.” Due to the lack of willpower to
resist the temptations of the Ooloi, Joseph easily gives in and allows Nikanj
to essentially have its way with him.
Lilith observes that his face is peaceful and that, “…he was ready to
accept what he wanted from the beginning.”
(Butler, 190) Joseph, although
his body was apparently willing to be had once again by Nikanj, his mind was
adamant in his refusal. In doing this,
Nikanj quickly dismissed what Joseph consciously and intellectually wanted, and instead opted to give Joseph what he truly desired, and in the end, Joseph is at peace with this intervention.

This
is not the first instance in which the way that the Ooloi give human’s only the
mere illusion that they have a choice before giving them what they truly desire and need. After nearly being
raped by Paul Titus, Lilith becomes irate at the prospect that she was put in
that room to “share sex, ”and essentially breed with him. However, Nikanj
reassures Lilith, claiming that she only will make the decision when she wants
to have a child. “When you’re
ready. Only then.” (Butler, 98) However, after Joseph is murdered, Nikanj informs
Lilith that he has impregnated her.
Lilith, understandably, becomes enraged that she has been made to be
pregnant against her will, especially since Nikanj seemingly told Lilith that
she would decide when she would want to have a child. In response to Lilith’s objections Nikanj
supplies his logic. “I said not until
you were ready. You’re ready now to have
Jospeh’s child. Joseph’s daughter.” (Butler, 246)
Nikanj, for whatever reason, believes that now is the right time for
Lilith to become pregnant, and thus he makes it so. In
this way, Nikanj asserts, time and time again, that he knows what Lilith (and
previously, Joseph) wants and needs better than she knows herself. This is apparently the justification for not
just Nikanj, but all of the Oankali controlling the humans as completely as
they do. Although one could argue the fact
that it is evident that Oankali are still somewhat inept at predicting human
reactions; considering Joseph’s murder and Lilith nearly being raped by a man
who had never acted out before. Nonetheless,
the Oankali and firmly in charge, dissolving whatever responsibility and
control the humans thought they had over their lives.

Through
these instances, there is the implication that perhaps, the Ooloi are
particularly adept in knowing and giving humans what they secretly desire, even
if they consciously reject it. And because of this, at least from the Ooloi’s
point of view, they are doing what is best for the humans, and are therefore
allowing the humans to lead better lives.
“Just as Joseph could never have invited me into his bed—no matter how
much he wanted me there. Nothing about
you but your words reject this child.”
(Butler, 247) If the Ooloi know
what the humans truly want and yet were afraid to admit; and grant their
deepest, darkest desires, will the humans actually be happier than if we were
allowed to make the decision ourselves, at least, in the long run? This seems to be true for Lilith. Never would Lilith consciously admit, so soon
after the loss of Joseph, that she would want a child to keep her company. Instead, it is Nikanj who makes the
observation that she needs a companion, because, in his words, “You’ve been
very lonely.” (Butler 246) Perhaps, what disturbs us isn’t the idea of a
society in which decisions are made for us, but rather, the idea that this
would in fact make us happier, and lead to a more ideal existence. Our free will and ability to choose our lives
is a highly treasured ideal that is universal, but if we could have something
that would make the decisions for us, the decisions that we truly wanted to
make, and then, be alleviated of its responsibility, would for many of us be a
tempting option. However, one might be too embarrassed to consider it. Which is perhaps why, although the humans do
put up a certain resistance, the Ooloi proceed with their decision anyway,
because they know that we truly want them to decide for us. Even though we might not admit it, maybe our
true ideal society, is one that controls us, rather than us controlling
it.

Parenting is a term that is thrown
around in Georgia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood.
Lilith and the Oankali seem to have different viewpoints to what exactly parenting
stands for. According to Webster’s Dictionary the word parent
can be defined as either “a person who brings up or cares for another” or “an
animal or plant that is regarded in relation to its offspring”(Marriam-Webster,
Parent).

The Oankali
like to interpret these words in ways that are self-suiting. For example, when
discussing Lilith’s intended job of parenting the soon-to-be ‘Awakened’ humans,
Kahguyaht says, “That’s the way we think of it. To teach, to give comfort, to
feed and clothe, to guide them through and interpret what will be, for them, a
new and frightening world. To parent.”(Butler, 111). This is in correlation
with the first definition of parent. It ignores the idea of needing relations
present. In theory, this is what parenting is between humans and adoptive
children. However, true parenting is something more than that. Parenting
implies a deeper relationship between parent and child, and a connection transcends
the roles or parenthood. This is something that even the dictionary definition
misses. I believe that what they are
asking of Lilith is more along the lines of a glorified mentor, with the
unspoken secondary role of scapegoat.

Parenting
is taken to another level at the end of the week’s reading when Lilith
discovers that she has been impregnated with a interbred child. Lilith,
obviously repulsed, states, “But they won’t be human… That’s what matters. You
can’t understand, but that is what
matters.”(Butler, 248). This is a reinforcement of her previous statements,
referring to the life inside of her as “a thing” and “a monster”. This intrigues
me. Despite the fact that the “thing” is half human, part of her and Joseph,
she is repulsed by it. I believe this returns to the definition of parent that refers
to offspring. Though it is something that humans thus far are not concerned
with in real life, I believe that these offspring need to be entirely
biologically our own. Lilith is unable to feel ownership of this “monster”
because it is not wholly of the same biological make up. Even I, a mere reader
of a fictional novel am repulsed at the mere thought of it. This leads me to
wonder if this is a type of taboo. Like the incest taboo we discussed in Wilson’s
On Human Nature, perhaps because it
is not biologically natural we are ‘programmed’ to cringe at the thought of
such an act. Extrapolating on this theory, parenthood would then not simply be
the offspring (or adoptive offspring) of the being, but biologically equivalent
offspring.

The only
issue with this extrapolation is the event of animals who adopt outside their
species. This rare act baffles many, but I believe this is a logical event of
nature that is reinforced by Butler. In Lilith’s
Brood though Lilith and Nikanj are of entirely opposite species, they
become very fond of each other, to the point of perverse interaction. It seems
rational to me, given the circumstance, that this should be the case. Lilith is
thrown into a stressful situation where she is without family, friends, or even
her own species for many years. She then latches on to Nikanj who is kind to
her, teaches her, and gives her shelter through unselfish behavior. This easily
can account for the stories of cats adopting squirrels and dogs adopting
piglets. Both parties are benefited by the relationship; one receives a
companion, and the other receives protection.

Though the
Oankali claim that parenting is simply raising a creature, I believe they are
missing major roles. In my opinion, the true definition of parenting should be
reformed to this; a deeper relationship between a biologically equivalent person
and child that transcends, but still includes, the mandatory roles of
parenthood.

“Males and females were
closely related and ooloi were outsiders. One translation of the word ooloi was ‘treasured stranger’.
According to Nikanj, this combination of relatives and strangers served best
when people where bred for specific work—like opening a trade with an alien
species. The male and female concentrated on desirable characteristics and the
ooloi prevented the wrong kind of concentrations” (Butler 106).

Octavia
E. Butler’s Lilith’s Brood makes
several critiques on the customs of human nature and American culture
specifically within the context of science fiction. One of the most interesting
is the theme of gender. Very quickly within the novel Butler is exploring the
concept of an alternative to the gender inequality that is still relevant in
most cultures worldwide. As established by the quote above, the alternative
that Butler is exploring is largely facilitated by the presence of the ooloi. The
presence of a third gender in this alien race brings to light an interesting
view on the appropriation of power by gender that is currently enacted in the
actual world. By incorporating the idea of the ooloi, Butler, who was obviously
inspired by Plato’s Symposium, changes
the hierarchy of men being dominant over women that is inherit in our society.
She also emphasizes the similarities between men and women instead of the
differences, the latter of which continues to be a significant dividing line
that contributes to sexism and gender inequality. Because of these notions, it
is easy to interpret the system set up by the Oankalito be an improvement of the one currently in
place in reality.

Moreover,
what I find especially interesting about the theme of gender in Lilith’s Brood
is that although the oolio are essential to the balance reached between men and
women and thus enable a shift in gender inequality within the Oankali that is
unparalleled in reality, the plot of the first book within the trilogy still
centers on an aspect of the female sex that is in itself fundamental to the
foundation of gender inequality: the woman’s ability to give birth. Historically,
the domestication of women has hinged on the physiological capacity and
cultural responsibility to reproduce. This includes the implicit convention for
women to care for children within the home, a reality that has only shifted
within the last half-century or so. Additionally the historical presumption of
women being biologically weak and emotionally unstable is also connected to the
ability to give birth due to such functions as menstruation and the presence
and affects of the estrogen hormone.

Because
of these facts, Butler’s choice to have one of Lilith’s main functions be to
act as a reproduction tool within the Oankali’s plan to create a hybrid race
that is better than the human race is somewhat contradictory with the theme of gender
equality in Lilith’s Brood. On one
hand we have the oolio acting as mythical outsiders who work to prevent “the
wrong kind of characteristics” within men and women, and men and women being
“bred for specific work” (Butler 106), and on the other we have Lilith, the
human protagonist, in many ways also being “bred for specific work”: the very
human convention of reproducing. While a woman carrying a child is one of the
most natural occurrences within human history, within the sci-fi world of Lilith’s Brood, Butler had the authority
as the author to attain true gender equality by having the main character not
be defined by her reproductive skills, which, as established, is in itself the
basis of gender inequality. Because of this, from my point of view the Oankali
themselves have achieved a credible alternative to the basis of gender
hierarchy we have in reality, but fail to incorporate the character of Lilith
into that alternative in a way that is genuinely any different than the role a
woman would be playing in standard American society outside of Lilith’s Brood or inside of it, in the
time before the war.

Additionally,
I also find it interesting that, although there are ways in which Butler is
commenting on plausible traits that if emphasized by our culture would benefit
the human race, in reality there is no third gender. Therefore, although Butler
is making a statement on the importance of equality for women by having the
Oanklani’s gender system be superior to the male-based one still endorsed by
most of the world today, there remains an undercurrent of pessimism because of
the fact that a third gender does not now, nor will it arguably ever, actually
exist outside of science fiction. Thus, the structure Butler has created in Lilith’s Brood, which highlights the
advantages of the elimination of a patriarchal based society, cannot ever be
achieved in the future by humans, or exist outside fiction, at least in the
same way in which Butler envisions it. That
being said, if one were to treat Lilith’s
Brood as a collection of ideas that undermine the wisdom perceived by our culture,
particularly towards gender inequality, they would have to assess the
Oanklani’s traits beyond their science-fiction nature and, since a third gender
does not exist in reality, apply the core idea behind the oolio to our world:
the more commonality found between men and women, the less inequality there
will be.